As one Harley rider puts it, "It is one thing to have people buy your products. It's another for them to tattoo your name on their bodies." Harley-Davidson is the only major US maker of motorcycles and the nation's #1 seller of heavyweight motorcycles. Harley-Davidson has developed an experience when a customer purchases a bike. Experience selling is dependent upon the social and psychological identity and aspirations of the customer. Riders flock to annual company-sponsored rallies by the tens of thousands. Owners and wannabes buy Harley-labeled clothing and other official gear from an 800-page catalog of parts, accessories and merchandise. The most loyal demonstrate their allegiance by tattooing the brand name on their bodies. Harley has directed a ten-year roadmap for the future development of the company. A strategic path has been implemented to have unit sales growth of 7 to 9 percent annual and annual earning growth and have set forth ambitious sales goals. Harley has two core principles, which embody the strategy- growing value and strengthening the brand.
There are two important ideas to be noted here, as representing the goal of the brand relationship strategy: customization and differentiation. The main goal is to convince the final consumer that the product he will be using, the software itself, is not only created to suit his best needs (customized), but it is created by the very customer himself. In this sense, somewhat similar to the Harley Owners Group, albeit of a somewhat different nature, the team of programmers organizes brainstorming session and brainstorming groups in which the members of the final consumer firms get together with the programmers and customize the software application to ...